Middle East

Jun. 16, 2014 | 04:03 PM (Last updated: June 16, 2014 | 05:32 PM)

Kerry says air strikes in Iraq an option, U.S. open to Iran talks

This June 12, 2014 file photo shows Secretary of State John Kerry listens during a meeting between President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

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The United States said that it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its archenemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has torn up traditional alliances in the Middle East.

Iran has longstanding ties to Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Shiite politicians who came to power in Iraq after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 .

ISIS fighters and allied Sunni tribesmen overran yet another town on Monday, Saqlawiya west of Baghdad, where they captured six Humvees and two tanks, adding to an arsenal of U.S.-provided armour they have seized from the disintegrating army.

A convoy travelling to reinforce the troops there was ambushed late on Sunday by Sunni fighters near the town of Ishaqi.

U.S. President Barack Obama pulled out all American troops in 2011 and has ruled out sending them back, although he says he is weighing other military options, such as air strikes.

ISIS fighters began their assault last week by capturing Mosul. They swept through other Sunni cities in the Tigris valley north of Baghdad, including Saddam's hometown Tikrit, where they captured and apparently massacred troops stationed at Speicher air base, once one of the main U.S. troop headquarters.